Climatelinks Photo Gallery

An active member of Daba’s Community (Jiza District, Amman, Jordan), working on restoring rangelands in Daba’s Village, being an active member of the youth in his community, and taking action toward climate change. WADI works with Daba’s Restoration Site, in collaboration with the Hashemite Fund for the Development of Jordan Badia, to provide technical support and assistance, which will increase the native seedlings survival rate. The partner organization involved in this program is Hashemite Fund for the Development of Jordan Badia, under the United States Forest Service funded Watershed Development Initiative.

Samuel is an ex-combatant who was part of a communist rebel group in the Philippines. To him, the days of intense fighting between the rebels and the military are a grim reminder of the senselessness of war.

He is among the forest guards that the DENR, through the USAID B+WISER program, trained on forest protection using the Lawin system. With the mobilization of Samuel and his fellow forest guards as Lawin patrollers, the DENR was able to strengthen forest protection in the region and expand patrol coverage to other identified hotspot areas in the Cordilleras. Samuel says that as forest guards, he and his team patrol the forest very strategically. “We have lived in the mountains for the longest time. We know where the illegal activities are happening and the possible areas where they can also happen,” he said confidently.

May, 2020, Koman Hydropower Reservoir, North of Albania. Koman Hydropower Plant is the second largest HP plant in Albania, constructed in 1980's.

A canoer enjoys the local ecotourism sports and activities the locals offer.

Local ecotourism offers sustainable income to communities living around the Koman Hydropower Reservoir.

Bustling Nha Trang, Vietnam, as seen from the Po Nagar Cham Towers, a set of ruins located above and across the river from the city proper. Po Nagar is an oasis of green amongst quite a busy city - the distinction is seen here as the eye wanders from bottom right to top left. 

India is a country known for it’s sweltering heat, but recent years have brought unprecedented (and early) high temperatures to the region, with a deadly outcome. Since 2000, India has had three serious droughts. The World Bank has estimated that the 2012 drought reduced the country’s gross domestic product by half a percentage point. On average, 2,500 people have perished as a direct result of blistering heat waves. Most of the dead are believed to be homeless, elderly, and laborers who were unable to escape the soaring temperatures.

This picture shows two children who have become involved by planting a sapling in dry land with the hope of a better tomorrow at a village in West Bengal, India.

Balaka District, Malawi, August 2020 - Idrissa Dyless has been involved in a climate action integrated program since 2017 and has learned many improved techniques of farming but also alternative livelihoods. In the context of climate change, it is crucial to encourage income generating activities apart from farming (which is mostly reliant on rains in Malawi). From 2017 to 2020, he has started protecting woodlots and neighboring forests. With the new trees planted and the natural regeneration, it became favorable to start the honey making process since the trees were providing enough shade for beehives. Idrossa learned apiculture and in his first harvest in August 2020, he got 22kg of honey which he managed to sell. USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) is supporting Malawi (through WFP) to change lives of rural communities through a range of various climate change mitigation interventions. These include productive asset creation for smallholder farmers to be better equipped against climate change.

This photo, taken in Mutatá, Antioquia, Colombia, shows three Embera women who are going to travel to France to be trained in high-quality chocolate prep. 

Embera Indigenous Cabildo from Mutatá, Antioquia, in Colombia, who are part of the REDD+ Project supported by the Program Paramos and Forests of USAID, have made an alliance with the Company La Finca Brava to promote high-quality cocoa produced in their lands. The alliance going to train three women in the prep of delicious products based on cocoa. The origin of cocoa and the knowledge of women will be part of the marketing strategy to export high-quality cocoa to Europe.

I took this photo on a road trip across the desert of the Northern drylands of Kenya in September of 2016. We were looking for pastoralists who have to travel longer distances (sometimes taking months) in search of water for their animals, so as to tell their stories through radio, of how longer droughts and increased temperatures have affected their lives and livelihood. While projections show that most parts of Africa will reach the 1.5 degree warmer limit by 2023 - just 2 years from now - some parts of the region are already experiencing temperature increases of 2.5 degrees.

Tapumuluka Irrigation scheme, Nsanje District, Malawi, November 2020. Anne Moyo, a smallholder farmer, was affected by floods in 2015 and 2019 and drought in 2016 and 2018, resulting in her crop being destroyed four times in the last six years. She was really desperate at the time, skipping meals and having her grandchildren drop out of school to help the family. Initially, Anne was receiving food or cash from WFP to be able to feed her family. As she was getting back on her feet, Anne and her neighbors started working to plant trees, grow veggie gardens with organic compost, dig wells, and anything that can benefit her and her community, and help equip them to better resist climate change. In March 2021, Anne was producing enough (and diverse) food thanks to a solar-powered irrigation scheme. She engaged in other money-making businesses and was able to rebuild her house (destroyed from previous floods) and keep her children in secondary school. USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) is supporting Anne and 85,000 other families in Malawi (through WFP) through a range of various climate change mitigation interventions.

In this photo, it is seen that a female LSP named Jesmin Akter is inseminating native cattle at Ramu, Cox's Bazar which is not a common sight in Bangladesh. Women have been empowered in a number of ways and women's engagement in artificial insemination in cattle brings a new dimension to it. Her family is getting economic support from her artificial insemination activity which is now becoming a common scene in her area. She used to attend 30-40 calls in a month and earns 12000 to 15000 thousand per month doing this activity. She is available with her service during monsoon times and prepares her well with dress and gumboots to avoid climatic uncertainties in a muddy rural area. Farmers believe her and praise her for her dedicated service, which brings economic progress and prosperity to her family and earns her respect.

IBIS Rice is grown by Cambodian farmers committed to the strictest environmental standard: they don't use chemicals and don't allow trees to be cleared or wild animals to be poached on their land. In return, they are paid a premium for their crop. As a result, a uniquely diverse ecosystem in northern Cambodia is being safeguarded from destruction and a number of endangered species are once again prospering, including the Giant Ibis, Cambodia's national bird. 

This photo was taken in Totoró, Cauca, Colombia.

Technicians and scientists of the Paramos and Forests of USAID Activity explain to indigenous Guambianos matters about soil and carbon, with the aim to understand the Carbon Cycle and climate changes occurring because of human activities.

Indigenous authorities of the Guambia Resguardo participate in the training process that Paramos and Forests of USAID Activity are implementing among a project to protect paramos and mitigate climate change.

Paramos and Forests Activity of USAID is designing an incentive for carbon capture in the Paramos Ecosystem, which will benefit inhabitants of the high mountains and aims to mitigate climate change.

This picture shows CaRE-NGO Kaduna's Climate-Smart Agriculture Centre where they do rooftop farming, corridor vegetable farming, grow yams in sacks, vegetative propagation of trees, a tree with more than 10 varieties of mangoes, fish farming, grasscutter farming, rabbit farming, snail farming and lots more; in the urban center. These pictures evidently demonstrate the effort of Global Environmental Facility (GEF) Small Grant Programmes (SGP) of the United Nations Development Programme in Nigeria and CaRE-NGO Kaduna, in the fight against climate change. These facilities are currently open and accepting visitors to see what is being done in this center. The source of these pictures is CaRE-NGO Kaduna Climate-Smart Agriculture Centre in Sabon Tasha in Kaduna.

Photo taken in Koman Hydropower Reservoir in Albania. 

Many locals pursue income-generating activities, such as guided boat tours for tourists, with little environmental impact, while providing for sustainable livelihoods for local communities.

KESH -Albanian Power Corporation has recently devised the Corporate Responsibility Strategy, aiming at supporting local economic activities with positive environmental and social impacts.

It is very important to accurately identify the fishery resources in the Imiría Regional Conservation Area, in the Ucayali region of Peru, because this will allow for an improved ecosystem management and sustainable use, which in turn will benefit many vulnerable populations, such as artisanal fishermen and Indigenous communities that depend on the Imiría lagoon for food security. Fish stocks are negatively impacted because of climate change and livelihoods threatened as a result, which is why regional and local authorities receive technical assistance from the USAID Pro-Bosques Activity to design a Fisheries Management Plan that can contribute to ensuring the sustainable use of resources. 

After going over the pass and crossing into the true Central Highlands, views like this were the norm. Mountains, pine trees, coffee plants as far as the eye could see.

Villages like the one seen in the middle of this shot were common - series of houses and shops right alongside the main road. Even in shots like this, I see a bit of the deforestation that reminds me of this year's contest theme around people and climate change. Much of the landscape seen here is beautiful and untouched, but where it has been touched, the natural environment is replaced or altered.